Iran says Hormuz open to all but ‘enemy-linked’ ships amid US threat to bomb power plants

The live blog has now ended and will be back tomorrow at 9am GMT. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran here.

The head of the International Energy Agency said Monday that at least forty energy assets had been "severely or very severely" damaged in the Middle East due to the war in the region.

"At least forty... energy assets in the region are severely or very severely damaged across nine countries," Fatih Birol told the National Press Club in Australia's capital.

Israel's military said it launched a "wide-scale wave" of strikes on the Iranian capital early Monday morning.

"The IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran," the Israeli military posted on Telegram using its official acronym.

Iranian news agencies reported explosions in capital Tehran early Monday morning, with Fars saying airstrikes had occurred in multiple locations.

"Explosion heard in Tehran," local media Mehr posted on Telegram.

Fars reported that "airstrikes targeted areas of Tehran", specifying five areas and that "terrible sounds of explosions have been reported".

The global economy is under "major threat" from the energy crisis caused by the Middle East war, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said Monday, warning that "no country will be immune" to its effects.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Australia's capital, Birol compared the current energy crisis to those of the 1970s and the impact of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

"This crisis as things stand is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together," he said.

"The global economy is facing a major, major threat today, and I very much hope that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible," Birol added.

"No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction. So there is a need for global efforts," he said.

One person was killed in a US-Israeli attack on a transmitter of the Persian Gulf Central Broadcasting Company in Bandar Abbas, according to Iran's Mehr news agency.

Explosions are being heard in eastern Tehran, according to Al Jazeera.

The UAE's Ministry of Defence has said that it is "currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," according to Al Jazeera.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency meeting on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with finance minister Rachel Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in attendance, the government said.

Investors are bracing for another stormy week in financial markets after Iran said it would strike the energy and water systems of Gulf neighbours if US President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to hit Iran's electricity grid.

Britain is watching with particular unease. The country's heavy dependence on imported natural gas, persistently high inflation and stretched public finances have pushed its government bonds into a far steeper decline than those of international peers.

"Topics expected to be covered are the economic impact of the crisis on families and businesses, energy security and the resilience of industry and supply chains alongside the international response," Britain's finance ministry said ahead of Monday's so-called "COBRA" meeting.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will attend as well as Starmer, Reeves and Bailey.

Oil prices rose early Monday after the United States and Israel warned at the weekend that the Iran war - which has disrupted oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz - would continue for several more weeks.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark crude, for May delivery climbed 1.78 percent to $100.10 per barrel, while North Sea Brent crude was up a similar 1.73 percent to $113.44 per barrel minutes after the market opened on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Kataeb Hezbollah, an influential pro-Iran Iraqi armed group, announced on Monday that it would extend a pause on its attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad by five days.

"The deadline given to the embassy of American evil will be extended by an additional five days," the group said in a statement.

The group warned that it would respond if it came under attack and denied involvement in a drone strike that hit an Iraqi intelligence building on Saturday, killing an officer.

The Israeli military has said that it detected new launches from Iran towards Israel, with air defences attempting to intercept the strikes.

The Israeli military has said that seven soldiers were wounded in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, according to the Times of Israel, with four being wounded in a safety-related incident in south Lebanon, with another wounded by a Hezbollah drone, and two wounded in a "work accident" in northern Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Sunday that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards are commanding Hezbollah's operations in the group's ongoing war against Israel.

In an interview with the Al Hadath network, Salam once again lashed out at Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets on Israel.

"It was declared that this war was in retaliation for the assassination of Khamenei, so this means this war was imposed upon us," he said.

Referring to the incident in which an Iran-made drone hit a British base in Cyprus earlier this month, Salam said "that was the Revolutionary Guard, which is present and, unfortunately, is managing the military operation in Lebanon".

"These people have forged passports and entered the country illegally," he added.

Gulf countries are warning the US against attacking Iran's power grid, which they say could see reprisal attacks against their energy and water facilities and endanger the global economy, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The publication reports that officials from several Gulf states have been "angry for days" that they can't influence the Trump administration, and that Iran's demands for ending the war are too high, which is blocking Gulf attempts to restart negotiations.

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has warned buyers of US bonds that they will be targeted by Iran if they continue to buy them.

"Alongside military bases, those financial entities that finance the US military budget are legitimate targets. US treasury bonds are soaked in Iranians' blood," Ghalibaf said, adding, "Purchase them, and you purchase a strike on your HQ and assets. We monitor your portfolios. This is your final notice."

Alongside military bases, those financial entities that finance the US military budget are legitimate targets. US treasury bonds are soaked in Iranians' blood. Purchase them, and you purchase a strike on your HQ and assets.

We monitor your portfolios. This is your final notice.

— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) March 22, 2026

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas held a phone call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Sunday, an EU official told Reuters.

Kallas also held separate calls with counterparts from Turkey, Qatar and South Korea "on the war in the Middle East, attacks on energy infrastructure, and the urgent need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz," the official said.

"These engagements were part of the EU’s ongoing efforts to explore diplomatic avenues forward," the official said, adding that "fresh threats to attack critical civilian infrastructure risk impacting millions of people across the Middle East and beyond".

Kallas last spoke to Araqchi on Wednesday, when she said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz was a priority for Europe, according to an EU official.

Hezbollah has claimed a series of attacks on northern Israel, according to Al Jazeera, including firing a missile salvo at an airbase in Meron and using drones to attack an army installation near Ramot Naftali.

The group also fired rockets at Manara and Zar'it, and attacked soldiers near the Lebanese towns of Khiam, Maroun al-Ras and Aitaroun.

Israeli strikes have continued in southern Lebanon, with artillery shelling hitting the outskirts of Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil, according to Lebanon's National News Agency, which added that violent bombings were occurring on Rab-Thalathin, Mays al-Jabal, Taybeh and Khiam.

Three strikes target Iraqi fighters south of Baghdad: official

Israel's military will expand its ground operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, its army chief said Sunday, warning that the offensive against the group was still in its early stages.

"The operation against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has only begun... This is a prolonged operation," Zamir said in a statement.

"We are now preparing to advance the targeted ground operations and strikes according to an organised plan," he added.

Israel's military said it was investigating whether its own fire killed an Israeli civilian near the Lebanese border on Sunday, after Hezbollah claimed an attack in the same area.

Israeli emergency workers said earlier Sunday that a man was killed in a "direct hit" on his car by a rocket from Lebanon, making him the first fatality in the country's north since the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah broke out.

The Iran-backed militant group said after the incident that its fighters had attacked Israeli soldiers in the same area.

But the Israeli army later announced it was "conducting a comprehensive investigation" into the death.

"The possibility that the incident involved fire originating from IDF soldiers is being examined," the military said in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that companies with U.S. shares would be "completely destroyed" if energy facilities were targeted, according to a statement.

The United States may need to "escalate" its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the US military campaign.

Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iranian energy plants if Tehran did not fully open the pivotal Strait of Hormuz, just a day after saying US objectives were "very close" and that he was considering "winding down" the war.

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: "They're not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate."

"This is the only language the Iranians understand," he argued.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the impact of the Iran war on the economy, a British government official said.

Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, is expected to attend the so-called COBRA meeting, the official said on Sunday.

Palestinian residents said Sunday that Israeli settlers torched buildings and cars in attacks on several villages in the occupied West Bank, with Israel's army condemning "violence of any kind" after the fact.

The reported arson late Saturday came in the midst of a spate of killings of Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the start of the Middle East war.

AFP journalists saw the charred remains of a house and several vehicles in the village of Fandaqumiya, southwest of Jenin. In the village of Jalud, a medical centre had been torched and Hebrew graffiti daubed on the mosque.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said several Palestinians were injured in the attacks.

Right now, 1:45am local time, settler militias are raiding more than 9 Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.

From Bethlehem all the way to Nablus, settler pograms are happening everywhere.

This began at 12am local time and has not yet stopped 1:45am 3/22/26. pic.twitter.com/ZOwU6BwkM3

— Wally Rashid (@wallyrashid) March 21, 2026

At least four people have been killed and some eight others injured in an Israeli strike in Gaza Strip's Nuseirat camp, according to Palestinian media.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Sunday slammed Israeli strikes on bridges and other infrastructure in the country's south, calling such attacks a "prelude to a ground invasion".

Aoun "condemned Israel's targeting and destruction of infrastructure and vital facilities in southern Lebanon, particularly the Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River and other bridges", a presidency statement said.

"These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and are considered a prelude to a ground invasion," Aoun said, hours after Israel's defence minister said the army had been ordered to destroy more bridges allegedly being used by Hezbollah.

At least three people have been reported injured following US-Israeli strikes that hit an industrial area in Khorramshahr, Iran, according to Shargh news outlet.

Iran's military threatened on Sunday to completely shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if US President Donald Trump acts on threats to target the country's power plants.

Trump has given Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait which has been effectively closed since the start of the war sparked on February 28 by US-Israeli bombardment of Iran.

"If the United States' threats regarding Iran's power plants are carried out... the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV.

The military said it would also strike Israel's "power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure", along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.

It added that the measures will be taken "to defend our country and the interests of our nation".

Israel's military struck a key bridge in south Lebanon on Sunday, after Israel's defence minister said the army had been ordered to destroy more bridges over the Litani River.

An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the site after the bombardment of the Qasmiyeh bridge, located on a main highway linking villages in the Tyre district with others further north.

Israel had said the bridge was being used by Hezbollah.

لحظة تنفيذ غارات جوية على جسر القاسمية وتدميره في جنوب لبنان. pic.twitter.com/VT53PC4XHQ

— Hisham Abu Shaqrah | هشام أبو شقرة (@HShaqrah) March 22, 2026

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed steps to end the war between Iran, the United States and Israel with counterparts from Iran and Egypt, as well as U.S. officials and the European Union, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Sunday.

The source said Fidan had held separate calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and U.S. officials, without elaborating further.

Israel said it had begun striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday, shortly after the military was ordered to destroy bridges used by the Iran-backed militant group across the Litani River.

"The IDF has begun a wide wave of strikes against Hezbollah terrorist organisation infrastructure in southern Lebanon," the Israeli military said.

The Middle East war has reached a "perilous stage" with strikes around nuclear sites in Iran and Israel, the World Health Organization warned Sunday, as it called for maximum restraint.

"Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

"I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents."

Seven people have been killed in a helicopter crash in Qatar's territorial waters, Qatar and Turkey said on Sunday.

The Qatari and Turkish defence ministries said the helicopter had crashed after suffering a technical malfunction, which the Qatari ministry said was during "routine duty".

Four of those killed were Qatari armed forces personnel, one was from the Qatar-Turkey joint forces and two were technicians, the Turkish and Qatari defence ministries said.

"Military cooperation and coordination activities between the Republic of Turkey and the State of Qatar continue uninterrupted within the framework of existing agreements and plans," the Turkish defence ministry said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to pursue senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards "personally", during a visit to an Israeli town struck by an Iranian missile the previous day.

"We're going after the regime. We're going after the IRGC, this criminal gang," Netanyahu said, as he inspected the damage in the southern town of Arad.

"We're going after them personally, their leaders, their installations, their economic assets. We're going after them personally."

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas held a phone call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Sunday, an EU official told Reuters.

Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf threatened on Sunday to irreversibly destroy vital infrastructure across the region if the United States and Israel attacked its own.

"Immediately after power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed," Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

He warned that oil prices would then "rise for a long time".

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the army had been ordered to destroy more bridges over the Litani river which he said were being used by Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I instructed the IDF to immediately destroy all the bridges over the Litani River that are used for terrorist activity, in order to prevent Hezbollah terrorists and weapons from moving south," Katz said in a statement.

An unknown projectile struck a vessel 15 nautical miles north of the United Arab Emirates' Sharjah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said early on Sunday.

It said that all crew were reported safe.

The UKMTO said in a later statement that the target of the incident could not be conclusively identified and authorities were investigating.

Three Turkish nationals including a serviceman were on board a helicopter that crashed in Qatar's territorial waters, alongside three Qatari servicemen, the Gulf country's defence ministry said on Sunday.

The six passengers of the flight were killed and one of the pilots was reported missing, the ministry said on X, after earlier reporting that the helicopter crashed as a result of a "technical malfunction" during a routine flight.

Israel's military said on Sunday that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.

"Iran has fired over 400 ballistic missiles. We have had great inception rates. We have approximately a 92 percent successful interception rate," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists.

Iranian missiles struck two towns in southern Israel on Saturday, leaving some 175 people needing medical treatment.

Iran's critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes, the country's energy minister said on Sunday.

"The country's vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime," said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi, according to ISNA news agency.

"The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks," he noted, adding that efforts were underway to repair the damage.

Earlier on Sunday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran's power plants if it failed to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz ​said on Sunday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to accelerate the demolition of Lebanese homes in "frontline villages" to end threats to Israeli communities.

Much of southern Lebanon, particularly south of the Litani river, has already been evacuated, with dozens of towns and villages lying in ruins.

The military was instructed to immediately destroy all bridges over Lebanon's Litani river which he said were used for "terrorist activity", Katz said in a statement released by his office.

Qatar says six people are confirmed dead, one is still missing in a Qatari helicopter crash in the Gulf country's waters.

UK cabinet minister Steve Reed said there is no assessment to substantiate claims Iran plans to hit European capitals, or has capacity: BBC

An American-operated Patriot air defense battery likely fired the interceptor missile involved in a pre-dawn explosion that injured dozens of civilians and tore through homes in U.S.-ally Bahrain 10 days into the war on Iran, according to an analysis by academic researchers examined by Reuters.

Both Bahrain and Washington have blamed an Iranian drone attack for the March 9 blast, which the Gulf kingdom said injured 32 people including children, some seriously.

More to follow

Eight overnight attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad's International Airport, an Iraqi security official told AFP on Sunday.

"Eight separate attacks, carried out until dawn with rockets and drones targeted the US centre," a senior security official told AFP, adding that "some rockets landed near the base".

A second security official said there had been six strikes, with a police source saying a rocket launcher was discovered in a Baghdad district near the airport.

Blasts were heard and air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran.

The army issued several alerts saying it had identified that "missiles were launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel".

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said after the first warning that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel's military said personnel were attending "impact sites" in central Israel, with local media showing images of light damage by a road in the city of Holon near Tel Aviv.

Israeli first responders said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person on Sunday close to Israel's northern border.

The ZAKA 360 emergency response unit said a person was pronounced dead after a strike on their vehicle "carried out by a rocket fired from Lebanon". Local firefighters said flames had engulfed two vehicles after a "direct hit".

The Israeli army had earlier announced it had detected "a launch from Lebanon toward a community along the northern border".

In a statement, the Hezbollah militant group said its fighters targeted "a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers" in Misgav Am "with a rocket barrage" - one of a series of attacks it claimed against Israeli troops in northern Israel and southern Lebanon on Sunday.